Binary

Companion Chronicles #6.9

Released: March 2012

Listened: 5/28/21

This companion Chronicle is the last appearance of Caroline John for a little while in this project, but not of Liz. Liz finds herself assigned to deal with a salvaged alien computer, as a result of her having dealt with this race before in an untold story. However, she’s under instructions not to tell the Doctor, who’ll want it destroyed as something the human race isn’t ready for. That’s indicative of the red tape she has to deal with at UNIT, along with the early-70s sexist attitudes (even from the Doctor), all of which has her strongly considering going back to Cambridge. The computer seems to have a lethal defense mechanism, so it’s a tricky job. While she doesn’t get killed, Liz does find herself shrunken and trapped inside the computer, faced with the choice of destroying it from within or escaping. It’s a decent plot that gives Liz a lot to do, but always within her capabilities. The Doctor is a minor character, and doesn’t really drive the plot much, which is somewhat unusual for these stories, but appropriate in this case. There are a couple of twists that you can see coming if you look for them, but Caroline John plays Liz’s reaction to them well. It’s a decent middle-of-the-road story.